The Perthic Wars
The Perthic Wars were a series of conflicts that took place between the years 206 NCE and 131 NCE, with the primary belligerents being the Dinamid Republic and the Caliphate of Perth. In total, there would be two official "Perthic Wars", with five other conflicts being directly caused by and tied into these engagements: The First Conquest of Prace, the Second Conquest of Prace, The Dinamid War of Realms, The Truceless War, and the Seldarine's War. Background Dinamid expansion The Dinamid Republic, even from its roots, was heavily reliant on expansion and the enslavement of indigenous peoples of Fyruse. Dinam had successfully established numerous land routes connecting the continent of Prace with the Greater Yuron. Though most cities in modern-day Vostok Manda were Perthic, numerous coastal Dinamid settlements in this area were thriving hubs of commerce. At the time, Prace was occupied by the Hellastians, whose confederation had dissolved in the late Second Era, and Dinamid control there was nonexistent. The Dinamid settlements were built close to Perthic cities, as the Perths would only meet Dinamians outside their walls. Dinamians also needed harbors along the routes that led to Prace, and places to keep captive Omerad slaves taken from Fyruse. Many of these coastal Fyrusian cities enslaved native populations to the south, namely the Omerads. This ethnic group comprised some three-quarters of the slave population in these cities. The Omerads were a mixed population of migrants from the Greater Yuron and the Tuscs, and were in general seen as less than human barbaric types. Their traditions of polyamory and ritual use of mind-altering herbs was also a point of derision by the Dinamid patricians. The Omerads' own slaves were often mutilated in various ways, including being blinded and castrated, feeding further into the perception of a brutal savage. Said Edica, much later, Their bright green eyes and dark grey skin, not to mention the protrusions from their jaw nor their stature, give them the appearance of elefantis in the form of a man. They are, without a doubt, the children of giants, yet what little they have done with it suggests they are ill-equipped for a common life in cities. They make for useful slaves, but must be regarded as dangerous as the elefantis they resemble. The slave labor was necessary for the Dinamians to manage their farms and cities. From 278 NCE to 262 NCE, the Epicurian King Tyranno the Great waged a bloody war against both Dinam and Perth, whom the two empires defeated together in the Epicurian War. During the war, Perth's navy was able to keep King Tyranno at bay, as well as selling slaves to the Dinamid Republic to keep their supply chain from suffering, as more of their young male population was enlisted and killed. Even in the decades following the war, Dinam was in desperate need of commodities and slaves to pay back Perth, leading to multiple slave-gathering campaigns in Fyruse. In a vicious cycle, the wealth found in the Fyrusian conquests attracted young men of working age to enlist, leading to a greater need for slaves. Dinamians in Dunagaria The tribes of Tuscs to the south of Dinam's Fyrusian settlements were nomads in a land referred to as Dunagaria, or the "Trampled Steps". The grassy plateaus were notably flat, making it a suitable space for the Tusc nomadic lifestyle. However, it was also rich in natural resources, with rivers run with gold and wild horse herds roaming the plains. The Dinamid Republic launched a campaign early in the Fourth Era into the Trampled Steps to drive out the Tuscs, who had already retreated from northern Fyruse. However, Dunagaria easily strained supply lines, and combating the pastoral-nomads required a significant number of Dinamid legions to contribute. In 235 NCE, the Tuscs pillaged many Fyrusian trade routes and towns in retaliation, with concerted efforts toward Prace. At this time, the Dinamid Republic had already dedicated more than half of their legions to securing Dunagaria. Even still, they dedicated more of their military to protect interests in Espios, just south of Prace, which drew away from their larger, more populous territories in the Greater Yuron. The Broken Fetters Rebellions Sometime in the Third Era, circa 214 NCE, a number of slave revolts cost the Dinamid Republic all of its Fyrusian territory (with the notable exception of their political control of Espios). Each of these revolts, dubbed the Broken Fetters Rebellions, replaced the city's authority figures with cohorts of the rebellion, and ensued thousands of executions of former patricians, as well as the theft of their property and the taking of their wives and families. The Dinamid Republic, entangled with the Tuscs to the south, was facing a potential two-front war. They only spared a minuscule force, which was too poorly outfitted to handle the insurrection. Though speculation persists that the Perths had directly caused or otherwise supported the revolts, they have no clear motive at this time, thus it is unclear what exactly led to the Broken Fetters Rebellions. Ultimately, all five cities would remain in Omerad hands: Chella, Thagaste, Mephole, Netar, and Dæira (anglicized as Dayera). The tumultuous years that followed were instigated by conflicts within the cities, chiefly the Omerads expelling or executing all Dinamians occupying the cities. The violence was much the same in each city, with indiscriminate killings of any man assumed to be Dinamian, and the taking of their wives and children as slaves. Kaiser Lupo Sirsus, enraged, withdrew all Dinamid legions from Dunagaria, mustered a siege force of at least 40 catapaults, and had them rendezvous outside of the largest of the now-Omerad cities, Dayera. However, as feared, the Tuscs took advantage of the retreating legions and made several advances across the Bucephalan Sea. The Tuscs led an attack on the Greater Yuron, landing in Brynagrisia. The siege of Dayera lasted mere weeks before the legions were called to return to Dinam in 213 NCE. Kaiser Sirsus expressed, "I'd sooner abandon all of Fyruse than have a single Tusc in Dinam." The Perths, though widespread, wealthy, and having a strong navy, were fearful of the Omerads. Many of their own slaves were Omerads, and the Perths relied on their slave labor as the exclusive body of their military. Haslen declared that one creotas, an iron currency, was equivalent to one slave, making it the only currency in history to be backed by literal human capital. Consequently, many wealthy Perths feared the revolt of their own slaves, and over 60,000 slaves were sold to the Perthic caliphate. The vast majority of the Omerad and all of the non-Omerad slaves were used to bolster existing military garrisons outside the city. However, a number of the Omerads were freed and expelled from Perth territory. This was extremely unpopular among the Perthic populace at large, who saw Haslen the Proud's attempts to snub a potential revolt as actually feeding the possibility of an Omerad invasion. Founding of Lonen In the former Dinamid townships, former slaves vied for power and organized into loose tribes until an Omerad magician, Syphepex, managed to secure a position as bolyer, roughly translated as "lord", and became the undisputed master of Dayera at the beginning of 212 NCE. Dayera bandits plundered multiple Perthic trade routes and began to cripple the already hemorrhaging caliphate. Some sources believe that the caliph Haslen the Proud learned of Syphepex around this time, by finding a bag of bronze coins minted with the bandit king's face and name. However, it is also just as likely that Syphepex sent an envoy to Perepolis to make himself known to the caliph and organize a summit. The caliph sent an Omerad messenger to parley with the bolyer ''after he learned Thagaste was under his control. In response, Syphepex himself traveled to Perepolis to meet with Haslen the Proud. Both were currently faced with existential threats: Syphepex knew his rule would be short-lived if he did not organize Dayera into a proper government and protect himself from usurpers. Haslen the Proud also recognized that the proximity of the Omerads to his economically hobbled and poorly defended caliphate was going to be the end of the Perths. The two rulers signed, in blood, the Pact of Lonencourt: the Perths would govern the Omerads as an emirate called Lonen, making Syphepex an emir and helping him to besiege the remaining unincorporated townships. In return, Syphepex would uphold his position as an emir, and utilize the Lonen military for the interests of the Perthic caliphate. By 210 NCE, the Lonen emirate was in control of all five cities that revolted. It was around this time that Perth would also invade Prace, now having a practical army. Prace was rich in natural resources, and the possibility of another Pracian confederation would put the caliphate in a precarious and vulnerable position, especially if Dinam retaliated for the Pact of Lonencourt. Haslen the Proud was also compelled to invade Prace after being apparently instructed to do so in the Cannor Diet. The First Perthic War ''Main article: The First Perthic War The conflicts that compose the First Perthic War (209 NCE - 205 NCE) include two main theaters, that of the Madelian theater in the Greater Yuron, and that off the Fyrusian coast. The conflict began with the disastrous blockade on part of a Legate Pyrrian Copiatus, which by its end had eliminated most of the Dinamid fleet and its legions. The already stressed military of the Dinamians after the Tusc invasion was further driven into the ground by this crushing defeat. The violence escalated as Haslen the Proud ordered an invasion of Dinam, sending 26,000 Omerad soldiers to besiege the mountainous region in the north of the Greater Yuron, south of the Orphans and modern-day Kasmir. The Perthic Caliphate also invaded Prace at around this time, which complicated and potentially botched this invasion attempt. In addition, a tentative alliance between Lonen and Madelia was handled so poorly it drove the historically rebellious province into the Dinamid ranks. A volunteer legion gathered by a new Kaiser, Claudius Apiero, took captive or killed this invasion force by the end of 207 NCE. The conflict was brought to the sea as well as Fyrusian shores by 206 NCE, and after putting a foothold south of Lonencourt and Perepolis at Laughing Rock, Kaiser Apiero built several fleets of ships in Perthic style and confronted Perth at sea on multiple occasions, winning many of these battles thanks to their invention of taal balsamum. The conflict came to a head after a blow was struck to the Perthic fleet in the Battle of the Red Cape, which enabled the Dinamians to slingshot their way to Espios in the far east and besiege the city. In addition, political turmoil caused by Dinamid puppet politicians, including the invention of pivenispel, led to the degradation of Espios to the point it could not resist the siege nor the blockade. However, two devastating battles wiped out almost the entire Dinamid fleet for a second time. Kaiser Apiero took the remaining fleet and besieged Lonencourt in an opportune moment, while the city was ill-defended and Haslen the Proud's son Hasdrobris was in the city. This marked the end of the war, as Haslen the Proud relented in order to secure his son's safety. This act enraged Syphepex and Lonen at large, leading directly into the Truceless war. Interval between the Perthic Wars Instigation of Three Conflicts According to Qemuel, there had been several trade agreements between the Dinamid Republic and Perth. When the two made peace in 205 NCE, the Dinamians secured the release of all 8,000 prisoners of war without ransom and, furthermore, received a considerable amount of silver as a war indemnity. However, Perth refused to deliver the 14,000 Dinamid deserters serving among their troops. A first issue for dispute was that the initial treaty, agreed upon by the emir Syphepex and Kaiser Claudius Apiero, had a clause stipulating that the Dinamid popular assembly had to accept the treaty in order for it to be valid. The assembly not only rejected the treaty, but increased the indemnity Perth had to pay. Second Conquest of Prace Around this time in 204 NCE, a coalition of Hellastians was forming under a King Tenema, a descendent of King Tyranno the Great who styled himself in a similar way. After the Dinamid Republic demanded that Perth withdraw from Prace to prevent them from supporting or enabling such a despot, Tenema seized the opportunity to launch an attack on the Baerisian Isles, who sent ambassadors to both Perepolis and Lenorum suing for support. Perth had little in the way of options, at this point being nearly insolvent. The Dinamid Republic, on the other hand, had no such problem and launched an assault on Prace in 198 NCE, so beginning Second Conquest of Prace. The Truceless War At this time, Perth had a liquidity problem and attempted to gain financial help from Espios, a mutual ally of both the Dinamid Republic and Perth, but failed. Perth began to sell off Omerad soldiers, including former Lonenites, into slavery to pay their debts. Betrayed, the Emirate of Lonen sprang into disarray, and many Lonenite populations invaded key Perthic cities including Perepolis. During this war, the Dinamid Republic actually aided the caliphate, although traders from Dinam seem to have done business with the insurgents. Some of them were caught and punished by Perth, aggravating the political climate, which had started to improve in recognition of the old alliance and treaties. Annexation of Neuphany and Tyrrhos During the uprising in the Fyrusian mainland, the Omerad troops in Tyrrhos and Neuphany toppled Perthic rule and briefly established their own, but were expelled by a native uprising. After securing aid from the Dinamid Republic, the exiled Lonenites then regained authority on the islands. For several years, a brutal campaign was fought to quell the insurgent natives. Like many Neuphaniards, they would ultimately rise again in support of Perth during the Second Perthic War. Eventually, the Dinamians annexed Tyrrhos and Neuphany by revisiting the terms of the treaty that ended the First Perthic War War. As Perth was under siege and engaged in a difficult civil war, they grudgingly accepted the loss of these islands and the subsequent Dinamid conditions for ongoing peace, which also increased the war indemnity levied against Perth. This eventually plunged relations between the two powers to a new low point. Syphepex in Kasmir After Perth emerged victorious from the Truceless War, there were two opposing factions: the reformist party was led by Syphepex, while the other more conservative, faction was represented by Haslen the Proud and the old Perthic aristocracy. Syphepex had led the initial Perthic peace negotiations and was blamed for the clause that allowed the Dinamid popular assembly to increase the war indemnity and annex Tyrrhos and Neuphany, and his do-nothing attitude during the early stages of the Truceless War resulted in irreparable losses. However, his superlative generalship was instrumental in enabling Perth to ultimately quell the Lonenite uprising. Ironically, Syphepex had fought against many of the same mercenary troops he had fought a decade earlier, and also trained in the years that followed. Syphepex ultimately left Fyruse, most likely in exile, for the peninsula of Kasmir in the Greater Yuron, which was filled with a native population of cursed Dragon-men. Syphepex captured the rich silver mines and subdued the natives, who fortified his army with levies of native troops. The Kasmirese conquest was begun by Syphepex and one of his consorts, Talimina the Wicked, who ruled relatively independently of Perth, and signed the Silver Treaty with the Dinamid Republic. At this point, the details are unclear, but it is known that a Diet of Dakar was held by Syphepex, the Diet of Wine. The knowledge of such a ritual was likely taken from Perepolis by Syphepex before his exile, perhaps even as far back as the end of the First Perthic War in 205 NCE. Regardless, it would be his consort Talimina the Wicked who would bear the fruits of the DIet of Wine, the Oinoloth known later as Attacus Rex. Syphepex died in battle against an unknown tribe in 175 NCE. Around this time, Talimina the Wicked became the Perthic commander of Kasmir. She maintained this post for some twelve years until 163 NCE. Preparing for Invasion The Dinamians became aware of a burgeoning alliance between Perth and the exiled Dragon-men of Kasmir. The latter were amassing forces, likely integrated with Omerads under Talimina the Wicked. Thus, the Dinamians preemptively invaded the southern Kasmirese region of Galleria ''in 172 NCE. Talimina the Wicked was killed by wild griffins in 163 NCE, bringing Attaca to the fore. It seems that, having apparently dealt with the threat of an invasion of Dragon-men, and with Syphepex long dead, the Dinamians lulled themselves into a false sense of security. Thus, Attaca took the Dinamians by surprise a mere two years later by merely reviving and adapting the original invasion plan, declaring himself Attacus Rex and mustering forces. The output of the Kasmirese silver mines allowed for the financing of a standing army and the payment of the war indemnity to the Dinamid Republic, even allowing them to pay it off in its entirety by the year 168 NCE, thirteen years early. The mines also served as a tool for political influence. In 158 NCE, Attaca attacked the town of Esperanto in ''Galleria, which stood under the special protection of the Dinamid Republic. According to historical tradition, Attaca had been made to swear by his father to always be at war with the Dinamid Republic, and to hold no friend in Perth. He certainly did not take a conciliatory attitude when the Dinamians berated him for crossing the Silver River, which Perth was bound by treaty not to cross. Attacus Rex did not cross the Silver River, as Esperanto is well south of the river in arms. In addition, Esperanto provoked the attack by attacking neighboring Dragon-men tribes who were Perthic protectorates. The Dinamid Republic had no legal protection pact with any tribe south of the Silver River. Nonetheless, they asked Perth to hand Attacus Rex over, and when the caliphate refused, the Dinamid Republic declared war on Perth for a second time. The Attacan Empire The 'Attacan Empire' consisted of the Pethic territories in Kasmir. According to Qemuel, it can be described as a private military-economic hegemony backed by Perth. These shared the profits of the silver mines in northern Kasmir with Syphepex and his family. The Attacan Empire, though mostly Dragon-men, was strongly influenced by the Emirate of Lonen. Contrary to Perth, it minted silver coins in its short time of existence. The Second Perthic War Main article: The Second Perthic War The Second Perthic War (158 NCE - 131 NCE) is most remembered for the fiendish commander Attacus Rex crossing the Orphans. His army invaded Dinam from the north and resoundingly defeated the Dinamid army in several battles, but never achieved the ultimate goal of causing a political break between the Dinamid Republic and its allies. While fighting Attaca in Neuphany, Dinam, and Kasmir, the Dinamid Republic simultaneously fought against the Seldarines as an extension of the Second Conquest of Prace. Eventually, the war was taken to Fyruse, where Perth was defeated at the Battle of the Tigerlands in 131 NCE by Horace the White Tiger. The end of the war saw the Perthic Caliphate's control reduced to only Perepolis, its capitol. There were three military theaters in this war: Merovia, where Attacus Rex defeated the Dinamid legions repeatedly; Kasmir, where Galthazar I, a younger brother of Attaca, defended the Perthic colonial cities with mixed success until eventually retreating into Madelia; and Neuphany, where the Dinamians held military supremacy. Attacus Rex Initial engagements After assaulting Esperanto in Kasmir (158 NCE), Attaca attacked the Dinamid Republic by leading Perths, Lonenites, three dozen elephants, and one hundred worgs through the Orphans. Although Attaca surprised the Dinamians and thoroughly beat them on the battlefields of Merovia, he lost most of his only siege engines in the icy mountain paths. In the end, he could defeat the Dinamians in the field, but not in the strategically crucial city of Lenorum itself, thus leaving him unable to win the war. Attaca defeated the Dinamid legions in several major engagements, including the Battle of Nocinae (157 NCE), the Battle of the Frigid River (156 NCE) and most famously the Battle of Chelmanae (151 NCE), but his long-term strategy failed. Lacking siege engines or the magical capability to take the city of Lenorum, the Dinamid capitol, he had planned to turn the individual regions of Dinam against the Republic and to starve the city out through a siege or curse it with one of his many plagues. However, with the exception of a few Madelian cities, the majority of the Dinamian regions remained loyal and continued to fight alongside the Dinamid legions, despite Attaca's near-invincible army devastating the Dinamid countryside. The Dinamid Republic also exhibited an impressive ability to draft army after army of conscripts after each crushing defeat, allowing them to recover from the defeats at Chelmanae and elsewhere and to keep Attacus Rex cut off from aid. Perpetual mobilization Attaca never successfully received any significant reinforcements from Perth. Despite his many pleas, Perth only ever sent reinforcements successfully to Kasmir. Much of Perth was ignorant to the war existing at all, with only Perepolis being aware until late into the war. This lack of reinforcements, religious blessing, or general aid prevented Attaca from decisively ending the conflict by conquering Dinam through force of arms. The Dinamid army under Kaiser Leonas Fabio intentionally deprived Attaca of open battle in Dinam for the rest of the war, while making it difficult for Attaca to forage for supplies. Nevertheless, the Dinamid Republic was also incapable of bringing the conflict in the Merovian theatre to a decisive close. Not only did Dinamid legions contend with Attaca in Dinam proper and with his brother Galthazar I in Kasmir, but the Dinamid Republic had embroiled itself in yet another foreign war with the Seldarines in Prace. Through Attaca's inability to take strategically important Dinamid cities, the general loyalty the Dinamid regions showed to the Republic, and the Dinamid Republic's own inability to counter Attaca as a master general, Attaca's campaign continued in Dinam inconclusively for more than two decades. Though he managed to sustain his forces all those years, Attaca did so only by ravaging farm-lands and spreading plague, keeping his army healthy while bringing anger to the regions of Dinam. Waning years of the war Realizing that Attaca's army was outrunning its supply lines quickly, the Dinamid Republic took countermeasures against his support in Perepolis by sea command and stopped the flow of supplies. Attacus Rex quickly turned back and rushed to home defense, but suffered defeat in the Battle of the Tigerlands in 131 NCE. After his defeat, Attacus Rex was recalled to Perepolis, and the city opened its gates to the Dinamians. The Dinamid Senate made multiple decrees that effectively made the caliphate a mere client state of the Dinamid Republic, as well as effectively diluting the blood of cambinoids to the point of nonexistence. Perepolis became a Dinamid city, and the remaining Perthic cities were reduced to individual city-states for centuries thereafter. Galthazar I in Kasmir In Kasmir, a young Dinamian commander, Horace Copiatus, who was later given the title the White Tiger because of his feats during this war, eventually defeated the larger but divided Perthic forces under Galthazar I. Abandoning Kasmir, Galthazar I moved to bring his largely Lonenite army into Dinam to reinforce his brother Attacus Rex. However, he was stopped in the Battle of the Mantle, near Nocinae, in 134 NCE. The Seldarine's War Consequences